Welcome to Ford Fusion Hybrid Forum

Welcome to Ford Fusion Hybrid Forum, like most online communities you must register to view or post in our community, but don't worry this is a simple free process that requires minimal information for you to signup. Be apart of Ford Fusion Hybrid Forum by signing in or creating an account.

The Edmonds Tesla had close to 25 different drivers who were apparently driving it as hard as they could. I've seen one picture where it was headed up hill with huge clouds of smoke coming from the rear tires. I wonder if they complained of poor tire mileage after that test?

The Edmonds Tesla has had it drive train replaced four times since they started testing it. That's $15K each time. It has come out that many other owners have had the same problem. Tesla is now saying that the actual problem was not in the drive train and that a 50 cent shim in another area and some adjustment to the wiring fixes it. The drive trains were replaced as a quick way to please their customers.

On my fun 70 mile drive to my Dealer near LAX I have seen at least 4 of them dead in the water. They were either being flat-bedded or a CHP/tow truck was on scene. Plus the one I passed in the AZ desert that was going very slow on I-10 in the 100F+ weather. I have also see many, many others doing ok, there are quite a few in these parts.

It seems that a Tesla driver needs instruction in energy management. Determining the distance between two points is not enough. The elevation changes between those two points are also important. Energy usage is very dependent on speed. Far more energy is used at 80 mph than is used at 55 mph. The one going slow in AZ was probably low on energy and minimizing energy usage in the hope of making it to a charger before running out.

It seems that a Tesla driver needs instruction in energy management. Determining the distance between two points is not enough. The elevation changes between those two points are also important. Energy usage is very dependent on speed. Far more energy is used at 80 mph than is used at 55 mph. The one going slow in AZ was probably low on energy and minimizing energy usage in the hope of making it to a charger before running out.

The in-car computer in the Tesla does energy consumption logging and predictions far more sophisticated than our hybrids. And they do give training to purchasers. They try to make driving the Tesla as simple as possible but it still takes planning -- you can't simply jump in the car and drive anywhere. Gasoline powered cars have over a hundred year head start on cross country travel (I doubt that people took their Baker electrics outside of town) and I'd say that coast to coast travel in a Tesla is about as much of an adventure today as doing it in a gas powered car early in the 20th century! You can see their Supercharger map http://www.teslamoto...om/supercharger and it's getting better but won't take you everywhere by a long shot.

In another post last year I wrote that I had passed a Tesla about half way between Phoenix and Palm Springs (Quartzsite, AZ), it was going very slow (55?) in the right hand lane. I surmised that the Tesla was low on juice and was going slow to conserve the battery, it was a very hot day. That area is where I usually stop for my last fill-up of the cheaper AZ gas before entering CA.

Last week as we were heading west from PHX we pulled into the last entrance to Quartzsite and I noticed that behind a chain hamburger restaurant there was a new bank of 8 Tesla electric Supercharging stations and sure enough there was a Tesla 're-fueling'.

The Tesla's are now covered for that barren stretch of desert, I'll bet the owners are happy about it too.

I think there's some kind of dealer in Miami. They brought three cars from there over to Marco Island, FL on the West Coast for weekend demo drives at an auto repair facility. I drove one and it was very luxurious, smooth and powerful. List price was $121K !

There are three Tesla stores and a Tesla store / service center located between Boca Raton and Miami. All are owned by Tesla. The nearest supercharger to Miami is in Marathon in the Keys to the south and in Port St. Lucie to the north.

The Tesla comes with a portable charger, similar to the Fusion Energi. The Energi charger operates on 120 volts only. The Tesla charger operates on 120 volts or 240 volts using different plug adapters.

Man I certainly would love to stop for a nice steak while charging a Tesla. Smart move.

Teslas are quite common in Vancouver - many places especially downtown have charging stations. New apartment buildings are required by law to include them too. And the hilly nature of the city makes it easy to recharge batteries with downhill braking. The cost of a Tesla isn't too high when you compare it to cars like the BMW 7-series or Mercedes-Benz S-class, which is what the Model S is competing with anyway. Superchargers are getting built in Canada - you can already drive from Toronto to Montreal without running out of juice. Still don't have a route between Vancouver and Toronto, but I believe it's on the company's plans.